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Wednesday, September 5, 2012

Anarchafeminisms are everywhere (2007)

Over
the last ten years a dynamic range of thought, action, work and play
has gone on combining anarchist and feminist practices in imaginative
and inspirational ways. In addition, feminist and anarchist practices
have merged with a range of other issues and movements, directly shaping
radical politics.

The WTO, FTAA and G8 summit protests were all
home to anarchafeminist contingents. Childcare crèches, communal
cooking, consensus decision-making and well-being spaces are now
commonplace at meetings, actions and events. Feminist politics are
present in queer anarchist spaces, from workshops at annual Queeruptions
to Queers Against Borders to weekly gigs and events. At the same time,
issues of sexism, sexual violence and aggression have been confronted by
many men within anarchist spaces and movements. Queer People of Colour
and Women of Colour collectives continue to create autonomous projects,
while generating analyses and actions that influence and shape meetings
and movements. Feminist and anarchist dis/ability activists challenge
dominant ways of thinking about ‘ability’ in their fight for accessible
spaces both within radical political communities and against the State.
Mental health, alternative medicine, herbal gynecology and menstrual
politics form an integral part of movement communities, as skill-shares
and support networks grow. While anarchist ecology movements engage
alternative technological practices, from building wind turbines to
guerrilla gardening, that incorporate ecofeminist thought.

Yet,
while anarchafeminsms ‘may be everywhere,’ they are not usually talked
about directly, or as a distinct politics. While some people reject
political labels all together, it is far more common to hear someone
call themselves an ‘anarchist’ or a ‘feminist’ than for someone to say
they’re an ‘anarchafeminst’. This is often even the case for people who
are committed to both anarchism and feminism. For various reasons, links
between these two politics often remain what the Dark Star collective
called “Quiet Rumours.”

There are a few groups around the UK that
outrightly position themselves as anarchafeminist, such as Dublin-based
the RAG (Revolutionary Anarchafeminist Group), the Brighton Women’s
Health Collective (whose email list and website are still called
anarchofeminist health) and WANC (Women’s Anarchist Nuisance Café) in
London. Recent anarchafeminist perspectives can also be found in zines,
journals and websites including Do or Die!, Green Anarchy, the F-word
and Indymedia. However, as these groups and this writing—often by its
nature--is ephemeral, localized and scattered around, it isn’t always
easy to find.

A few years ago, Quite Rumours (AK Press 2002)
re-released an excellent collection of early and second-wave
anarchafeminist writing from Emma Goldman, Peggy Kronneger and Carol
Ehrlich, along with a few recent texts from Alice Nutter of Class War
and Mujeres Creando. Many of these texts, especially those by feminist
writers from the 1970s, acknowledged the ways in which it can be
difficult for both feminists and anarchists to see how their practices
have been—and continue to be--shaped by each other.

Feminism can
be particularly alienating to anarchists’ if they are unfamiliar with
its radical roots and activist practices. This is largely because the
feminisms we most often see have been coopted by capitalism and
ridiculed by popular culture. Some anarchist practices and politics do
share obvious connections to feminism. Most anarchists recognize gender,
sexuality (and less often race, class and ability) as inherent concerns
of feminist practice. But feminism is not just ‘about women’.
Grassroots feminisms of the 1970s and 1980s brought creativity and
collective decision-making to the fore, influencing current direct
action and diversity of tactics approaches to anarchist activism.
Ecofeminist thought and practice shapes current anarchist ideas about
technology. Black and third world feminisms provide much of the backbone
of anarchists’ solidarity work, no borders activism, prison support and
campaigns against poverty. While queer feminisms, in addition to
cultivating anarchists’ genderqueer and transpolitics, offer ways to
re-imagine borders, identities, relationships and notions of family and
home that are at the heart of anti-authoritarian practice.

Likewise,
many feminists know very little about anarchist politics—even though
they may engage in anarchist practices such as collective decision
making and autonomous organizing. As Carol Ehrlich wrote back in 1977,
most feminists are unfamiliar with anarchism as “anarchism has veered
between bad press and none at all.” This remains true today. Yet just as
feminism is linked to anarchism, anarchism has a lot in common with
feminism. Both offer direct critiques of capitalism, state control,
domination, property, authority and imperialism. In terms of practice,
there are also a number of overlaps. Anarchists’ ecological practices,
along with their focus on autonomy within community and their desire to
cultivate nonhierarchical relationships, resonate with feminist
politics.

Of course, the point of bringing together anarchisms
and feminisms shouldn’t only be to celebrate their connections.
Differences in anarchist and feminist practices and perspectives often
led to debate. Contradictions, conflicts and tensions between them give
rise to the ‘differences that matter,’ as well as to the dreams, ideals
and visions that shape radical politics. As feminists and anarchists
have long argued, both asking difficult questions and making political
links lie at the heart of radical politics. It is only through
confronting differences that conflict can become a productive site for
transformation.

So if ‘anarchafeminisms are everywhere,’ or at
least, ‘politics combining elements of anarchism and feminism are
everywhere,’ it seems a good time to ask more questions about these
connections, overlaps and conflicts. There are a lot of anarchafeministy
folks out there saying—and doing-- inspirational and informative stuff.
It is in the spirit of their work that I put together this directory
and this call out for a new collection on anarchafeminsims.

Let’s
amplify these whispered legacies, take the rumours out of the closet,
and bring our current anarchist and feminist activisms into dialogue
with each other.

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Anarcha: Mother of Gynecology

It was after being part of anarcha.org that I learned of a woman named Anarcha, having nothing to do with anarcha-feminism, but whose story is very relevant. I was reminded of her recently by my friend Will who wants to study midwifery. Anarcha was a slave who was experimented on by a gynecologist numerous times without anesthesia.Anarcha: Mother of GynecologyAnarcha's Story